Apple’s Siri Not Perfect, But No Fraud

The fight has lasted two years, but last week U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken dismissed a lawsuit accusing Apple of misrepresenting the capabilities of Siri on its iPhone 4S.

Wilken said the plaintiffs relied on “puffery” in advertisements featuring the voice of Apple’s personal digital assistant Siri, but failed to show evidence of fraud or false advertising in Apple’s ads.

The four plaintiffs argued that Siri didn’t understand their questions and couldn’t locate places they requested.

A reasonable consumer would not expect it to work flawlessly, according to Wilken.

Apple promotes the smooth-voiced Siri as an assistant that “listens to you, understands you, and can answer your questions and even accomplish tasks for you.”

Apple introduced the iPhone 4S in 2011, for $199, with the inclusion of a voice-activated personal assistant named Siri.

Siri could set wake up alarms, find a restaurant in a specific city and tell the user about the weather.  Siri could make calls, send text or email messages and schedule meetings.

Apple’s advertising claims that Siri is an “amazing assistant,” and a “breakthrough,” are “mere puffery and are not actionable,” according to Wilken.

“Plaintiffs do not allege any specific statement by Apple that expressly indicates that Siri would be able to answer every question, or do so consistently,” she wrote.

Case: In re iPhone 4S Consumer Litigation, No. c12-1127CW




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